Have P@H standards Really changed since the petsmart days?

[Matty Day]

I went to P@H earlier looking for some toys for the girls. While there I thought I would have a quick look at the hamsters. And saw dirty tanks and general ill knowledge from staff about hamsters one even told me that Syrians are social I had to show him a notice about Syrians to show him otherwise. However atleast the person on the till showed more knowledge and knew perfectly well that Syrians are solitary.

[souffle]

If you are unsatisfied with the conditions in any P@H or any other pet shop for that matter you should report it to their customer services department or the manager. Our experiences of this store with regard to the animals conditions and stock availability have always been positive but branches will vary nationwide.It is not our policy to set up a witch hunt with any particular store but you are of course welcome to share your experiences, good and bad of any pet store.

[Hanlou]

I think that's the problem..... standards seem to vary so much from store-to-store.

One near us has been refurbished recently (it was completely flooded out in June) and has not bad set ups. Ok, I still think the tanks they use for rats etc are nowhere near big enough, but at least they have toys and things. Also, the degus have a large cage set-up complete with a wheel and hay and everything. It is always clean and bright and the 'adoption' set up is also very well done. The staff seem fairly knowledgable too, they are certainly always friendly and helpful.

But a different store also near us has *tiny* tanks and little else for all of it's animals. The degus in there looked like they were going crazy for lack of space and just absolute boredom, they were cooped up in a space that wasn't even big enough for a Robo hamster. They weren't dirty as such, but the tanks were so small they could never really be clean either.

I have emailed in the past, but didn't get very far though the sick animal I emailed about did disappear, I don't know what happened to it.

I *do* know that other people have got somewhere though and have good results, so always express your views via an email or a letter.

I'm afraid I will not buy animals from any pet shop, as they usually come from rodent farms where animals are treated as goods and females are bred back-to-back. I cannot personally condone this, so I don't buy animals as I can't support this practice. It is hard though, the degus I just wrote about looked so sad..... my husband even wanted to get them just to get them away. But other degus would probably have replaced them, thus encouraging demand, so what would be the point? Breaks your heart at times though.

If anyone wants to see them, I can direct them to some 'photos of a rodent farm set up. Not for the faint-hearted.

[Holly]

Originally Posted by Hanlou

I think that's the problem..... standards seem to vary so much from store-to-store.

Yes - and, at the end of the day, no matter what the actual store conditions look like the vast majority of hamsters there will have come from a huge rodent farm where we aren't able to see or judge the conditions for ourselves. I'm all for improved conditions in the actual stores but it doesn't help the breeding females condemned to a life of back to back breeding until they die or become infertile (I don't even want to think about what happens to them then ). It also doesn't help the poor babies who arrive at the shop stressed and ill and die a short time later (as we've so sadly recently witnessed on this forum).

There's also the issue of what happenes to those animal who aren't sold by their "sell by date" ie when they are too adult looking and not "cute" enough to sell. Catja was recently told that a certain well known pet shop "hits them over the head in the back room". Whether that's true or not I don't know - but another forum member regularly rescues ex pet shop rabbits and piggies from a meat market

Originally Posted by Hanlou

I'm afraid I will not buy animals from any pet shop, as they usually come from rodent farms where animals are treated as goods and females are bred back-to-back. I cannot personally condone this, so I don't buy animals as I can't support this practice. It is hard though, the degus I just wrote about looked so sad..... my husband even wanted to get them just to get them away. But other degus would probably have replaced them, thus encouraging demand, so what would be the point? Breaks your heart at times though.

I'm with you on this one - I will never again buy an animal from a petshop, no matter how much the animals in there break my heart (unless it's a true rescue situation like Catja's Desi a couple of weeks ago). I've come out of petshops almost crying (and more than almost lately) but buying the animals simply fuels the trade.

Originally Posted by Hanlou

If anyone wants to see them, I can direct them to some 'photos of a rodent farm set up. Not for the faint-hearted.

I think we may have seen them - were they on a rat forum a few weeks ago? It upsets me so much to think about the animals suffering in these places right now, this minute.

[Hanlou]

They were those pics yes Holly. I suppose we all knew what those places were like, but seeing them.... seeing animals piled up on top of one another in boxes (you cannot call such things cages by any stretch of the imagination).... those pictures will be with me forever.

[Matty Day]

I do not tar all pet shops same brush earlier today I found a small very knowledgeable one in my area. They said they buy excess hammeis of breeders and will take unwanted babies from other pet shops and people who have bought pregnant hams from other pet shops. There was even a notice in the window saying this.

the cages are also good they have a gabber rex size cage for four Syrians with wheels and toys etc.

I did find P@H revolting and hardly improved from the petsmart days. which I had a bad experience of because I bought some carp from them had them in a tank ready to release them into my pond in a few months and they all died.

but it shows not all pet shops buy from rodent farms and not all meet the bare standards of the local council

[Holly]

That's good to know, Matty - we also know of another good petshop that Spud's Mum knows

Sadly there are none round here that I'd buy an animal from (though I do have three gorgeous petshop hams, the shop we got them from wasn't able to tell me anything about where they came from so I can only assume the worst).

There are a couple of horrific petshops in this area - I was in one once and someone was buying a load of dead rats and mice (pet ones - they were all different colours). I was horrified and asked how they ended up dead - the staff and the buyer all looked at me like I was some mad woman and I'm glad they didn't tell me in the end - something else to have nightmares about.

[sammys/mum]

I have a 'pet shop' near me called Whitehall Garden Centre which is actually lovely. Nearly all the hamsters are bred by the actual people who own the Garden Centre (family owned) and they have clean, reasonably big tanks.
When I went to America (my first time when I've had hamsters) I went in the big petshops over there and I also went into one which was a smaller, few branch one and I was disgusted at the dogs there. Kept in tanks barely bigger then them. I nearly burst into tears, they looked so sad...
But over here that doesnt happen as much! Thank god most of my pets at homes are nice and clean!

[Mollz]

There are one or two good pet shops where I am, there is one in particular that the owner actually breeds the rabbits and guineas they sell and gets their rodents from breeders.

The animals are kept in great conditions and several of my current pets have come from there (including a guinea pig that is now 8 - a pretty good age for a piggy).
Although I have seen some really bad ones around here - and the pets at home seems to vary, although I do think it is improving.